Les Bowie

{{Short description|Canadian-British special effect artist (1913–1979)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}

Les Bowie (November 10, 1913 – January 27, 1979[https://archive.today/20130808202944/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/BasicSearch?action=searchLink&displayType=6&BSNomineeID=63849 Academy Awards Database: Les Bowie]) was a Canadian-born special effects artist working mainly in Britain.

Bowie began his career as a matte painter in 1946.{{Cite web|url=http://galeon.com/traditionalfx2/LesBowie/LesBowie.html|title = Galeon - Popular Magazin 2021}} His work found places in classic films such as Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and The Red Shoes.{{Cite web|url=http://galeon.com/traditionalfx2/LesBowie/bowie-Gallery.html|title=Galeon - Popular Magazin 2021}}

He created his own company in 1951 and worked freelance on projects for relatively low-budget studios such as Hammer Films and Oakmont Productions. His films for Hammer included The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Dracula (1958) and The Kiss of the Vampire (1963). His Oakmont films were Attack on the Iron Coast, Submarine X-1 and Mosquito Squadron. Bowie worked with Ray Harryhausen on Jason and the Argonauts, First Men in the Moon, One Million Years B.C. and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.p.135 Webber, Roy P. The Dinosaur Films of Ray Harryhausen: Features, Early 16mm Experiments and Unrealized Projects McFarland, 2004

Notable non-Hammer films included The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), Fahrenheit 451 (1966) Casino Royale (1967) and The Assassination Bureau (1969).

He was also one of a team to win an Oscar for his work on the 1978 film Superman, specialising in mattes and composites.